Lounging around in your favorite spot with your nose deep inside a good book is one of the greatest ways to spend the lazy days of summer. So CG was honored that author Meg Cabot (of this summer's page turning thriller Abandon) took over as a guest blogger to tell us all about what her summers were like growing up and why reading made them even better. Bonus: she shares some photos of her favorite summer days!

"Summer is basically the best time of year (which is why I moved to Florida, so I can have summer all year round), when it's warm enough (and also socially acceptable) to wear flip-flops and shorts and lounge around the pool or beach and escape your real life problems by reading big, delicious novels. But when I was younger we didn't have a pool or live close to a beach, nor did we have air-conditioning (my house was too old). We only got to go to the pool when we were on vacation . . . So when I was around 12, I started inventing my own beach . . . . by filling a wheelbarrow with sand and parking it in my front yard beneath some shady trees, next to the sprinkler, and laying inside it in a bikini while reading any book I could get my hands on.

There are so many great books to get lost in during the long summer months. I even finished some of the great classics in this manner (and by great classics I don't just mean works by the Bronte sisters, Ms. Austen, and Mr. Dickens, but everything I could get my hands on by Stephen King, and even comics and graphic novels).

But most of my favorites were books about girls who were like me . . . girls who didn't feel like they fit in (and not just because their legs were literally dangling out of a wheelbarrow) and were wondering where they belonged.

I think that's why the myth of Persephone resonated so much with me (I found it in a copy of Edith Hamilton's Greek myths). Persephone not only found where she belonged (the Underworld), but someone who understood, too (Hades, lord of the dead).

I think it was around that time that I started hatching my own version of thismyth . . . only updated, and much darker! When I finally got kicked out of the wheelbarrow for letting it rust to pieces, I realized I wanted to go to all the places I'd read about in the books I'd loved. So I started babysitting every summer. I took the kids to the library every week to make sure they never ran out of books to read! Eventually, I did earn enough money to go to London, and then to France . . . twice!

Those were still some of my best summer vacations."

- Meg Cabot

What will you be reading this summer? CG can get things going with a chance to win an autographed copy of Meg's latest book Abandon and a $100 Visa gift card. You can spend it on anything you like - but just think about the library of books that can get you! Click here to enter now! For more about Meg, check out Facebook and her official site too! And tell us about your favorite reading spots in the comments section below!